Saturday, 8 July 2017

Good Season for Silver-washed.

It seems to be an excellent season for the Silver-washed Fritillary. Good numbers are to be seen in our woodlands and if lucky the odd female Valezina form could turn up.It is estimated that one in seven females have this attractive appearance.

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Welcome to my blog and thank you for taking the time to view my images of butterflies of the UK and Greece.I have always been interested in nature and its beauty,and more so since I acquired my first digital camera in 2010. All my photographs have been taken with a Nikon DSLR. a Sigma 105mm macro lens and very occasionally using a Nikon 70-300m lens.Many of them have been at locations on the Isle of Wight. The photographs of butterflies in Greece are a result of family holidays to the Greek Islands and the species I came across near to our accommodation.

UKBMS

Butterfly Conservation Europe

The Adonis Blue

The Adonis Blue is the rarest of the UKs downland butterflies.
It is found on the Isle of Wight and in Southern England.Here on the Island we have south facing downland with short,plant-rich turf which suits the Adonis.
There are two broods a year,from mid-May to the end of June and again from early-August to late September.
The striking sky blue of the male is in contrast to the female which is a basic brown colour,although she has silvery-blue scales near the body and on the hind wings.

The Duke of Burgundy Fritillary

Sadly,this species as well as several others have now been lost to the Isle of Wight

The Large Tortoiseshell

It seems the general view on the status of the Large Tortoiseshell in Britain is that it is now extinct as a breeding butterfly.It is a butterfly of woodland edges and hedgerows that abound in willows,elms,and poplars.These trees are used by the adult to lay its eggs and this single brood appears in July and August.The butterfly then hibernates over the winter in log piles and hollow trees until the next spring.On the Isle of Wight sightings are more often than not made from early March to April.Have these butterflies overwintered on the Island or have they come from the continent where it is common?Any sightings made in July/August pose the same question.Another explanation could be that captive-bred releases are responsible.Only the discovery of eggs and caterpillars will probably answer these questions.

The Glanville Fritillary

This elegant butterfly is mainly confined to the crumbling undercliffs and chalk downs of the Isle of Wight.It is also found on the Channel Islands and at one or two isolated colonies on the British mainland.In Britain the Glanville Fritillary is at the extreme north-western edge of its range.On the continent it is readily found in flowery habitats.Around the southern shores of the Isle of Wight the cliffs constantly erode causing them to slip away and provide perfect conditions for new growths of the butterflies laval host plant,Ribwort Plantain.The eggs are laid to the underside of the leaves of this plant and normally hatch after about three weeks.The resulting caterpillars live together in communal webs spun over the plantain.In the autumn they hibernate and recommence feeding in the spring,eventually dispersing to prepare for pupation.The adult butterfly is on the wing from May to the end of June with the female being larger than the male.They will feed on,amongst other things, Birds-foot Trefoil and Thrift.

Glanville pupa attached to rock

The Wall Brown

On the Isle of Wight in particular,the Wall Brown is a butterfly of field edges,coastal cliffs and dunes,and rabbit-grazed downland.
The male is territorial and spends much of the time patrolling and basking on the ground.
The female,which lacks the males conspicuous dark sex brand across the forewings,is larger.The undersides of both sexes are beautifully cryptic when at rest.
The Wall Brown generally produces two broods a year,the first from late April until late June and the second from mid-July to mid-September.